When we leave this winter, the thing I will miss most is how amazing the people are. I will miss the hazard lights being flashed at you when you let someone in, the way they wrap up your purchase like you just bought something from Tiffany's, the basic attitude that they don't want to inconvenience you in any way. Will totally miss the red bean baked goods as well.

I would like to thank each and every person who posted here. I was already so excited to be coming to Japan and this positive thread made me even more so. Thank you.

Summertime festivals! Around here (Iwakuni) each little town has its parade/festival/fireworks on a different weekend. It's an all-day thing with food booths, music & arcade games. If you plan it right, you can go to a different one each Saturday; my wife & I were at the Yanai goldfish festival last Saturday. It was a blast!

I just want to share this link:

http://digitalnomad.nationalgeograp...out-japan/

In my Japanese apartment building, if I'm following someone into the lobby they will naturally hold the elevator for me. But if I'm too far behind to hold the elevator (like, I'm just now parking my car) my Japanese neighbor will go on ahead without me then send the elevator back to the lobby after they reach their floor. So when I get to the lobby, the elevator is sitting right there waiting for me. So thoughtful and so un-American-like!

I love Japan !!!

This one just came up today... wanna make guacamole tonight, and all you have are rock-hard avocados from the commissary? Go out in town! Japanese stores actually sell ripe avocados that you can use immediately. No more waiting 4-5 days for them to ripen!

That we make enough money that we are able to afford for me to be at home with my children every day, this is something we wouldn't be able to afford to do if we were stationed stateside ;O) thank you COLA.

And I love walking everywhere with my family and the fact that were not the only people walking is nice too.
And how inexpensive it is to go to the movies on base (i miss pretzels though)
And today we went Station Grill and let me tell you that was amazing so yes I love station grill too.
I will add more when more comes to mind ;O)

1. Take off shoes at household entrance.
2. Toilet facilities have came a long way. Bidet on most toilets. Unbelievable that when you sit on a toilet, it makes water-running sound to mask what you are doing!
3. People - Very polite people. Love the courtesy of bowing to show respect. Japanese people that I work with are very thorough to a fault.

Lot of positives!

Here's one my wife loves -- I get a kick out of watching her enjoy this... She loves the Japanese magazines that come with a handbag or wallet packaged inside. She finds these on the magazine rack at 7-11 or at bookstores. Some shops have samples of the "free gifts" that will be bundled in next month's magazines and she counts down the days before they go on sale. She got a magazine today with a nice ladies wallet inside that has zippered coin pockets, a place for your passport, credit cards, etc. for 590 yen.

I love how clean the taxis are and how they all have those lacy headrests, and the door that opens automatically. The cab drivers always chat with me and help me practice my Japanese too.

Oh, and Aquarius! I la la la love Aquarius! <3

Posted By FavoritePrincess on 11-11-2011 12:58 AM
Oh, and Aquarius! I la la la love Aquarius! <3

It's better than Pocari Sweat?  They have some funky drinks in Japan.  At the gym, I saw a vending machine with a Pancake-flavored drink.

I personally like it better than Pocari Sweat. My hubby loves the pancake one but it's not my bag.

What's the pancake drink look like? I'd love to try it.

Posted By gaijin on 11-11-2011 9:44 AM
What's the pancake drink look like? I'd love to try it.

Like this!  Served warm, naturally.

It's in a short can and has a stack of pancakes on it I wanna say its in the vending machine on Yokosuka base in the machine closest to Sullivans playing field and across from the bus stop and next to a bus stop!! LOL I know I'm confusing.. LOL  Its not my favorite but my kids love the pancake drink...

I love the Old Japanese people and the youngest Japanese people they are both quiet and sometimes very reserved and always appreciative if you give them your seat on the train while other younger people just sit there... 

I'm definitely looking for it the next time I go past a vending machine.

And on that note: I love the vending machines. They are everywhere. A hot cup (actually can) of coffee is never far away.

And the vending machines are so polite! They thank you for using them, at least the one at the gym does. At the 7-11 ATM, the machine says with such obvious enthusiasm and goodwill: "Thank you! We want to serve you again!" It makes me want to withdraw more money just to hear that cheerful voice.

The ATM at my bank doesn't talk (it's all in kanji; I just had to memorize the sequence of keystrokes to do what I need.) But it has an animated graphic of a pretty lady bowing all along. She bows when I insert my passbook; she bows when I put in the cash; and she bows when the transaction is over. Now, if you ever catch me bowing back to the ATM then we'll know it's time for me to leave Japan. :-)

Panda Pocky!  (Santa delivered to my stocking on Christmas Eve.) 

Thaiguy always start good topics here in jb. I love how the japanese people are respectful and do greetings even on people they don't know. The train system is the best too. I appreciate it the most when we went to the states for a vacation for a mon we got no car so we can't go anywhere unless husband has to drag his mom r dad to drive us somewhere since he won't drive coz he's used to drive on the right side here. But anyways I love the fresh foods especially the fruits and vegetables. You name it they have it. The eat all you can yakinikus. The freshly baked breads. The instant foods in 7 11 but still healthy and will tell you how much called and everything. The vending machines both hot and cold. The customer service everywhere. The 100 yen shop.

Calpis!

Those dove shortbread cookies, Hato Sabure. Yummo! 

ThaiGuy -

Just have to ask, how did you get to a vending machine and post with a pic in 14 minutes flat???
Where you standing next the vending machine when you read the post? LOL.

Posted By ALock92 on 01-25-2012 10:20 PM
ThaiGuy - Just have to ask, how did you get to a vending machine and post with a pic in 14 minutes flat???
Where you standing next the vending machine when you read the post? LOL.

lol, very observant.  Yes I was!  The vending machine is at Ironworks Gym in Iwakuni. The gym has free wifi & a lounge area where I sometimes hang out.  So, photo on my iPhone got sent to my Macbook, upload to JB, without ever leaving the gym.  I'm such a geek!

This may be a good place to add this link watch it to the end:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?...&vq=medium

Thanks Yokota! I LOVE this video...it always makes me sad, but so proud to live in this wonderful Country, and to call some of the Japanese people my dear friends that I will have the rest of my life.
What I LOVE about Japan the most is the people and how they embrace everything and celebrate it...from fertility to the end of a climbing season on Fuji, to the snow, Summer, and Spring. They are highly respectful people and I only wish that the world could get along ALL the time and not JUST in times of crises.

Fake food in the restaurant windows that looks good enough to eat.  When your order the food, it looks exactly like the window display.  I don't know how they do it cuz every restaurant has their own style of udon or gyoza or fried rice, and yet the window display is always perfect.

I love the big New Years celebration in Chinatown!

Ok where to start, hot coffee in a can from a vending machine (that blew me away the first time I saw it) though I have quit smoking the cigarette machines are cool something you haven't seen in the states since like the 80's. Pocky! I love how the train is ALWAYS on time. I love my Japanese neighbors, they are elderly and don't speak any English but will come over and talk to us in Japanese and hold a conversation knowing I don't understand them LOL. All the sites to see. Malls....I will say the Japanese know how to build a mall LOL. Heated toilet seats...I can never sit in a cold toilet seat again, I will be taking one back to the US when we leave The cabs are soooo clean and the cab drivers wear white gloves. I can't get used to the no tipping thing though. My husband always tips and they always givve it back to me. Though cab drivers wil take tips. Thai Guy I love those fake food displays! Everything is pretty clean. The people are so friendly, very low crime. I like not having to hear police sirens every night when I'm sleeping

After 3 years living in Japan, I finally tried out their suitcase delivery service. If you're going on a trip within Japan just take your suitcase to any convenience store with the Black Cat logo in the window and they will have it shipped to your hotel or home for about $15. It's flat-rate regardless of the size & weight of the bag. Delivery is overnight (if you drop it off by 11:00 AM), saves you the hassle of lugging it to the airport & possibly paying extra fees. In my case, I didn't want to take it on the local train from Atsugi to Shin-Yokohama then all the way down to Iwakuni so I dropped it off at the 7-11 on base. On some bases (like Iwakuni), you can drop it at ITT and they will take care of the shipping for you. Oh, and they ask what time you want it delivered to your home; you can choose a 2-hour window & the delivery man will show up at the appointed time. This is something that U.S. totally needs considering the hassle of air travel these days in the States. I love that Japan is so efficient & reliable like this.

Glad it worked out for yout. Just curious: how long did it take to get to Shin-Yokohama from Sagamino-eki - an hour and twenty minutes or so?

Kuro neko is the only way we roll when traveling to and from Japan. We send our bags to the airport as well on the outbound legs of trips.

ThaiGuy,
Oh Wow! I didn't know that even existed, and never would have thought that it did! That's great! ...now I just need to figure out how to actually do that...with my servilely lacking Japanese vocabulary...

Posted By NichiBeiOne on 06-10-2012 10:15 PM
Glad it worked out for yout. Just curious: how long did it take to get to Shin-Yokohama from Sagamino-eki - an hour and twenty minutes or so?

Nichi, the train ride is under an hour. Another unadvertised good deal is that the Navy Lodge will provide a driver to take you to the front gate (handy, considering it was raining yesterday).  At the gate, we caught a cab to the station.  With just a carry-on bag & our 2 light back packs it was an easy trip.